At least 55 new COVID-19 cases were reported over a 12-hour span across Pune district , with the majority being from Pune city , taking the district’s cumulative tally of active positive cases to 1,044, health officials said on April 27.
One more death, that of a 48-year-old woman who was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and was afflicted with diabetes mellitus, and was hypertensive and obese, in the city’s Sassoon General Hospital a little after midnight took the district’s death toll to 78, said authorities.
“The woman, who had a number of comorbidities, was admitted on April 18 after testing positive for COVID-19. She had bilateral pneumonitis and was detected to have multi-organ dysfunction syndrome and was put on ventilator support. Her condition, however, deteriorated and she died at 12.30 a.m. today,” said a hospital official.
On April 26, the district reported three deaths, all from Pune city.
With the latest spike in cases, the district has witnessed a surge of more than 120 new active cases in just over 36 hours, and more than 200 fresh cases over a two-day span.
“In all, 34 new cases were reported between 7 p.m. Sunday and midnight, while a further 21 have been reported since then,” said District Health Officer (DHO) Bhagwan Pawar.
Increased testing capacity
Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram has attributed the mounting numbers to increased testing capacity, with health officials now testing a maximum 1,035 samples a day.
Till date, the district — including Pune city, Pune rural and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas — has reported a total of 1,320 cases which includes 1,044 active cases, 198 cases who have been discharged, and 78 deaths.
According to authorities, 48 of these cases are said to be ‘critical’.
As per figures from the Pune Zilla Parishad’s Health Department till the evening of April 26, the total of active positive cases was 989 of which Pune city had 930 cases, Pimpri-Chinchwad had 44 active cases, while rural areas in Pune district such as Baramati, Velhe, Shikrapur had 15 cases.
Of these 989, a total of 768 cases are at present undergoing treatment in Pune Municipal Corporation–run hospitals, 142 in Sassoon and the BJ Medical College Hospitals, 20 in civil hospitals, 15 in rural hospitals and 44 in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation-run hospitals.
In all, 74 of the 77 deaths have been reported from Pune city and rural areas and three from Pimpri-Chinchwad.
On April 26, Maharashtra reported 440 new cases were as the State’s cumulative tally breached the 8,000-mark to reach 8,068 while its death toll rose to 342.
